The Average Salary of Professional Soccer Coaches
The annual income of a professional soccer coach is dependent on the league the coach works in and the international status of his team. In the United States, where soccer does not have the dominant status as in other countries, the coaches are among some of the lowest paid in professional sports. NFL and NBA coaches sign multimillion dollar contracts, while coaches in Major League Soccer (MLS) average less than $100,000 annually. Coaches for the men's and women's national teams earn considerably more but are still not on par with their international colleagues.
Other People Are Reading
-
MLS Coaches
-
Coaches in the MLS, the men's professional league in the United States, earn between $75,000 to $125,000, plus benefits, each year. Contract terms are written for one to three years. There are 18 teams in the league, that plays a regular season from March to October and ending with the championship MLS Cup game. MLS coaches are responsible for managing a team of full-time players and staff, training players and dealing with public relations, player trades and team budgets, according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Men's National Coach
-
Before he was fired in early 2011, U.S. men's national soccer coach Bob Bradley earned a base salary of $449,025, according to U.S. Soccer Federation tax returns obtained by The (New Jersey) Star-Ledger. He earned another $345,000 in bonuses, $6,000 in deferred pay and $17,619 in nontaxable benefits in 2010. His total annual salary topped 818,000. The contract of the coach who was named to replace him, former German star Jurgen Klinsmann, has not been released.
-
Women's National Coach
-
Pia Sundhage, coach of the U.S. women's national soccer team, earned a base salary of $207,667, according to tax returns obtained by The (New Jersey) Star-Ledger. She also had another $5,100 in deferred compensation and $6,868 in other nontaxable benefits. In total, she claimed a salary of $219,635 in 2010. Sundhage's salary came in a year before the World Cup, when the women's team did not play in a major international event. Many coaches earn additional bonuses for performance in certain high-profile events.
International Coaches
-
The top paid international coaches, in nations where soccer is the top sport, make significantly more than American coaches. Of the 32 coaches participating in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, U.S. coach Bradley ranked 24th in overall salary. England's Fabio Capello was the top earner at more than $12 million annually, according to RNW Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Second on the list was Marcelo Lippi of Italy at about $4 million. All of the coaches in the top 15 earned at least $1 million. Shaibu Amodu of Nigeria had the lowest reported salary of $164,520. Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho is the best paid coach in the world, earning around $19 million per year.
-
References
- Photo Credit David Cannon/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images
